Strengthening Leadership and Coordination for Africa’s Research Readiness
Pandemic Preparedness is a strategic portfolio focused on enhancing Africa’s capacity to anticipate, prepare for, and respond effectively to infectious disease threats with epidemic or pandemic potential. This work builds on critical lessons from COVID-19, Ebola, tuberculosis, and HIV responses, recognising the urgent need for coordinated, context-specific research leadership in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

At the core of this portfolio is the belief that Africa must be equipped not only as a beneficiary of global support but as a leader in pandemic preparedness, response, and research coordination.

What We’re Doing in This Space
Under the Pandemic Preparedness portfolio, the following key initiatives are underway:

Leadership & Coordination: Supporting African-led coordination mechanisms to guide research preparedness and response, ensuring timely, context-relevant action when outbreaks occur.
Regional Research Mapping: Conducting a comprehensive mapping of infectious disease research funders and investments to identify gaps and opportunities for alignment.
Funder Engagement: Surveying and engaging regional and national funders to build a stronger, more representative membership base for Africa within global research alliances.
Knowledge Consolidation: Synthesising and disseminating lessons from past and current outbreaks to inform future preparedness strategies across the continent.

This portfolio is spearheaded by the GloPID-R Africa Hub, which serves as a platform to expand the continent’s voice in global health research governance and ensures that African priorities are at the centre of global pandemic preparedness agendas.

Portfolio lead: Duduzile Ndwandwe (duduzile.ndwandwe@mrc.ac.za)